Alabama State University News August 14, 2015 Next Step in Biomechanics Comes to ASU Campus by May Donnell An old, decrepit rope bridge swings in the breeze over the swirling sea below. A seagull swoops dangerously low, while gaps between the rotten boards reveal what surely would lead to a watery death should the shaky structure give way. A sudden blast of wind rocks the bridge sideways, making it nearly impossible to pass. Few people would voluntarily place themselves in the predicament described in this precarious scene, but they soon will be lining up to do so in the Biomechanics and Motor Control Laboratory (BMCL) at Alabama State University, which now boasts one of the world's most advanced devices for the study of human motion. So advanced, in fact, it is one of only six in North America. Dr. Lee Childers, BMCL director, with the help of an international crew, has successfully installed the machine known as a Gait Realtime Interactive Analysis Lab, or GRAIL. What Childers learns in this virtual reality setup will improve prosthetic design and rehabilitation, stabilize the legs of stroke victims and give combat soldiers a leg up on the field of battle. The device, which looks like a cross between a huge video game and a sound stage, was developed by an Amsterdam company called Motek Medical B.V., and it was paid for by a nearly $500,000 grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland. It is as complicated as the space-time continuum and as simple as taking a walk. "We're going to use it to improve people's lives," Childers says. GRAIL consists of a wide treadmill attached to a motion base with sophisticated scales and a motion capture system. A semi-circular projection screen surrounds the treadmill and overhead a dozen cameras encircle the area. It takes a bank of seven separate but linked computers to run the system. All of these different components are in sync, meaning what you see on the screen matches the speed, pitch and sway of the treadmill belt. The person whose gait will be studied is fit with a number of small sensors on his/her legs so that the computer can capture not only the motion of the ankles and legs, but also the forces at each joint and when the muscles fire. "With GRAIL, what used to take weeks of analysis now takes minutes," said Childers. "We hope to use it to do things like improve the design of prosthetics and orthotic devices, enhance physical therapy protocols and learn fundamental principles that govern how we walk." Childers has been at ASU for three years. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering, a master's degree in prosthetics and orthotics, and a doctorate in applied physiology focused on prosthetic research from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). The lab will conduct research with the help of volunteers from throughout the community - some with prosthetics and others who qualify. "It's pretty straightforward," he said. "We study how people walk." Two days after setup, the lab had its first chance to study the way a volunteer named Beth walks on her right prosthesis. "What's really cool is that we not only measured how she walks, we saw a model of her walking and running in real time," Childers said. "We got a lot of great feedback from Beth's visit, and we'll use that data along with future findings to create our own prosthesis or help someone else create a better one." Childers credits ASU President Gwendolyn E. Boyd for helping him connect with the Army Research laboratory that allowed him to submit a grant to obtain the GRAIL. The grant was submitted under a program geared toward enhancing research capabilities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The research taking place in Childers' lab will focus on three topics. The first will look at how people with amputations or neurological injuries use their remaining motor system to utilize a prosthetic or orthotic device in order to move. The second will help explain how people can improve running performance while minimizing the risk of injury, while the third will attempt to define how the human nervous, muscular and skeletal systems interact to solve Bernstein's problem of motor redundancy (a sophisticated scientific observation of human movement). The program used by GRAIL is based on theories of two complex subjects -- physics and calculus. Motor control is the study of how the neurosystem integrates and interacts with the physical world to produce smooth and coordinated movement. Biomechanics is the study of movement through the application of mechanical principles. With this new system, Childers is able to merge the two disciplines together much more accurately than before, and he couldn't be happier. "How can you not be excited about physics and calculus?" he asked. "It's awesome. It describes how the world works." The new GRAIL device at ASU will help people in every part of the world live and work more successfully. "We'll be publishing our findings as a way of reaching out," Childers said. "Our main goal is to help people through this great new way to research human motion." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.